Another School Shooting
 

Say a prayer. At least two children lost thier lives today at another school shooting. A student in Santee, California shot and killed two of his classmates and wounded 13 others.

I hope that all the witnesses and wounded are able to recover. I pray for the killed. And I pray for the killer - his soul is stained.

http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif What really disturbs me is the fact that this young man told friends that he was going to do this. Reportedly, he even asked them to join him. One of his friends was interviewed on CNN and said he feels terribly that someone lost their life and he could have prevented it. (There was only one reported death at the time) He went on to say that they thought this young man (shooter) was just joking. Supposedly he (shooter) was pat down by another friend before entering the school, just in case. Little did he know that the gun was hidden in the young man's backpack.

As a teacher, this "epidemic" scares the beejeebies out of me. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

------------------
Sigma Lambda Upsilon: Sincerity, Loyalty, Unity http://www.sigmalambdaupsilon.org

This is just 20 minutes from where I live! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

I'll be sure to keep everyone updated if any new info is discovered.

How old was the kid?

According to CNN.com, the shooter was a
15-year old freshman at the school.

What I don't understand is why this is so prevalent today. What happened over the last several years to make school an unsafe place. I know I sound naive, but this didn't go on when I was in high school and I don't get it.

I pray for the families of the victims and the killer, that they may remember the love and good times in the midst of this tragedy.




------------------
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Really, I think it's SICK. The kid was picked on. I was picked on. Hell, every 13, 14, or 15 year old kid was picked on. These messed up kids see one movie that inspires them, or news footage of events like columbine and get ideas in their warped unbalanced heads, and just go with it.

This is why I HATE the media sometimes. Because they don't realize (or maybe they do) that they perpetuate the problem. Kids who are picked on and have chemical imbalances see the news footage and get angrier and angrier and see examples like this that predominate the images they see on the news at night, and see that as a possible outlet for their own anger as well. It is so naive of the media to cover these stories to the extent they do. yes, i am aware that news is news and that stories like this are imporant for people to hear. Perhaps this event, this particular one, might be inspiration enough for change in the schools.

But you know what, it's not. This messed up kid went to friends and told them what he was intending to do. They thought he was kidding. DING DONG. HELLO??? ANYONE HOME??? people don't joke about things like that. And in the wake of columbine, the fact that these kids, not one of them (cause my understanding that there were a few) went to a teacher to warn them, makes me ill. one of the kids said on t.v. last night that he felt kind of guilty because not only did the shooter tell this student what he was planning, but he went so far as to invite him to join him on his shooting rampage. Well, there's blood on his hands, he should feel guilty. I'm sorry if i'm sounding harsh but children died because 15 and 16 year olds, old enough to have developed some monicum of cognitive ability didn't think it odd or worthy of warning that a friend of theirs talked about opening fire on the students and teachers of that school.
I watch the news during times like these and am so sad and so scared for our children...

Leslie

[This message has been edited by gphi2k (edited March 06, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by gphi2k (edited March 06, 2001).]

Statistically speaking, school violence is down. But the incidents that hapen are more violent. The kid was patted down?! That shows that they knew he was serious. This is just sad http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

I don't think we should lay blame on any one entity. The media, the school, the parents, etc... How can anyone say that one thing started this?

I blame us. You and me. Each and everyone person in the USA and beyond has a part in this. Gphi2k says that every kid is picked on, but why? I bet that every person has also picked on someone else! If we could learn to live and let live, recognize and understand people's differences... If we could recognize and treat mental problems, rather than call people crazy... But those are BIG 'ifs.'

And sometimes people are just born rotten (IMO). Most of the time however, we should help people get through things, when all we really do is hurt. Then something like this happens and we all swell up with piety and say that "the media" or "video games" or "music" or "McDonalds" or "ritalin" is to blame. This should be a reminder that our actions do effect others.

Well, I have seen the enemy, and he is us.

Hear, hear, Allie!

Charles "Andy" Williams--15 yr old freshman

At last count he had told at least 20 people. Including an adult. None took him seriously enough to notify authorities.

I don't know if any of you have seen pictures of him. But all day, I kept hearing at work "I can't believe what the scrawny little boy did." He barely looks 12 yrs old. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/mad.gif

That little boy shot 13 and murdered 2. There were so many wounded, that authorities were writing numbers on victims heads with a marker so that they would not lose count. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

But he WILL be tried as an adult. San Diego is the most conservative city in the state. Any one who feels that he should be tried as a juvenile will not get very far with their arguement.

The carnage was caught on film and video by a photography class that was nearby. Instead of fleeing for their lives they grabbed cameras. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/redface.gif The equipment was confiscated and will no doubt be used by prosecutors.

For now the school and the community needs to start healing. I know everyone will be praying for them.

It's just over the hill from my parents house... http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

One of the kid's friends patted him down before he went into the school? And then what...the friend just "forgot" to look in the kid's backpack? Moron.

Along the lines of what amycat412 said, these things ARE more prevelant now than they were in our glory days of high school.
When I was a Freshman the only thing that I can remember happening at my high school that was scary as hell, was a bomb threat. The thing that made it scarier was it was a couple days AFTER the Oklahoma City Bombing. We had three total bomb threats that semester!
But after the Columbine insident my former high school tightened security and took steps to try to prevent incidents like this (shootings) from happening.
It's a scary, scary world out there now. I'm already afraid for my unborn children. It's so sad to think that we used to be sent to school by our mothers, thinking that was the second safest place, next to our homes. Now it's just as unsafe as an unlit alley.
Very, very sad http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

Just a comment: Who heard about the other school shooting that took place yesterday? In Largo, MD, a fight broke out, a gun was pulled and someone was shot! Hmm, wonder why it's not NATIONAL NEWS??? What about the little 5 year old girl who brought a gun to schol yesterday?? WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS COUNTRY????

Not to down play these tradgedies (sp?). I do feel the deepest sympathies for these people.

But, however, where I grew up, school shootings, especially in high school, happened often. We had an ambulance and a few police cars that would sit outside the school every single day just waiting for things to happen. We had metal detectors, bars on the windows, and security guards that locked down the school between classes. We had bomb threats on a regular basis.

Now, my school wasn't all that unique. They were all like that, more or less. But we were never in the media, no press came to see when a teacher got stabbed or whatever.

Now, my main point is, my schools were not in surburbia and not at all white -- i.e. broke, minority, and urban -- i.e. nobody cared. This has been happening and it does happen every day. It's only a tradgedy when it happen to white America. It's normal when it happen to minority America.

Just had to chime in on this one. It does burn me up.

http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif I think it sucks that the shooter didn't have someone out of high school to say that the "cool kid" status and the "dork" status really won't matter in a few short years. I was not prom queen nor was I on the brain bowl team. There was a defined social hierarchy. But now, who cares? Can anyone of us truly say that your popularity or lack thereof effects your life today? I know it's hard to not fit in, but you have to keep looking ahead. I really wish that the poor boy, who felt that shooting up his school was the only thing to do, had someone to tell him that nothing in high school (or college) is worth what he did. If only some one had told him that "this too shall pass"...
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif
Heidi

I just heard on the news that another school shooting happened in Williamsport, PA. A girl shot another girl, but thank God it wasn't a life threatening wound. What the hell is going on in kids minds these days?

random inquiry along the lines of Asia2000's post--

Does anyone know of any shootings/murders happening in private schools?

I realize I approach this from a rather naive and sheltered P.O.V. I did not attend public schools, and I wonder what the difference is ...

Again, I feel it necessary to apologive for my naivete...

Amy

Amy, please tell me you aren't implying that a private school is safer than a public school? NO ONE is immune.
Heidi

no, not implying it at all. all i can do is speak from my (admittedly sheltered) experience.

i went to private schools. my brother went to public and his school was definitely more, shall we say, edgy? No shootings, but guns routinely found in lockers.

no place is safe, that is the unfortunate truth.

...and it continues...

I just read about a kid in Riverside, CA that was talking about violence and had a knife. Then another kid at that same school, totally unrelated, said something about, "If you make me come here, I will bring a gun and shoot up the place." while he was being registered. Then, in 29 Palms, CA a list was found of 13 people. It was a hit list...people to be killed, along with weapons. That was a short article though and I wasn't able to find out anything else. Found it all on abc. By the way, that was all in ONE day!

what the %^$%## is going on with these kids today? Parents today? SOCIETY today? I don't understand it and it scares me.

I am a product of 13 years at a Catholic all girls school, and I must admit that while I attended the Academy I felt safe AND immune to the reality of teen violence. Don't get me wrong, the Academy wasn't a utopia, but I can't think of a time when I ever went to school feeling threatened. My school was in a very urban part of town and a few blocks down was a public high school with a notorious rap sheet.

Like Amy, I too had a "sheltered" experience, but I am thankful for that. I remember in grade school the biggest threat to the neighborhood was the local Bloods and Crips (yes, Honolulu had their own). I was kept away from that--even when a family friend (who was only 16) was gunned down in a random shooting 3 years ago.

It wasn't until I finished high school that I realized that something was going on with America's youth. Ironically, that was when cities like Jonesboro AR, Paducah KY, Springfield OR were being plastered on the nightly news. I could not believe that these baby-faced children could ever commit these atrocities.

The horrors of Columbine was what did it. I witnessed the pain of the Littleton, CO residents and I couldn't help but share in their sorrow...because I realized that in a few years I too will be a parent.

What kind of world are we going to bring our children into?

------------------
*I'm an Alpha Gam...Yes I am, Yes I am!*

I heard on the news last night there was another one. This time it was a girl who did the shooting. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif

I believe you are talking about the shooting in PA. This shooting was at a parochial school. The young lady fired the gun twice: once in the air and again at the floor. The second shot richocheted off the floor and into the victim's shoulder. Apparently, the shooter and the victim did not get along. I'm not sure about any charges being filed as of yet.

------------------
Sigma Lambda Upsilon: Sincerity, Loyalty, Unity http://www.sigmalambdaupsilon.org

And there we have my question about does this happen in private schools answered.

good grief.

LOL. sorry. using the term 'Young lady' struck me as a bit of a kind reference to a girl who shot at a school mate. let's call her the assailant, cause that's what she is.
how is this happening? why? it's so beyond my realm of comprehension. i'm scared to think of what the future will bring....

Force of habit. As a teacher, I address my students not only by their given names but also as "young lady" and "young man", regardless of their behavior.

I think it is a shame nowadays how quick people are to call one another "out of their names". Regardless of what actions they may have taken... But that's just me.

------------------
Sigma Lambda Upsilon: Sincerity, Loyalty, Unity http://www.sigmalambdaupsilon.org

**AXO Alum shaking her head**

IMO I think its ALWAYS a tragedy and never "NORMAL" -- Personally, I don't care if a person is blue, green, yellow, purple, red, or rainbow colored like the slushies I used to buy off the ice cream truck....its a person and NO ONE deserves to be a victim of senseless violence! Maybe if we ALL started treating each other like PEOPLE and not like crayons in the crayola box, then we will realize that the only thing that truly matters is that a life was lost and finding out what we can do to prevent it in the future!

On another note...did anyone see the Primetime special last night about kids and guns? They gave the kids a class about gun safety and what to do if they found a gun, etc. Then a couple weeks later, they planted disabled guns and dummy bullets around 2 kids hangouts with hidden cameras --- NOT ONE SINGLE KID turned the guns in when they found them....well one did -- but he turned in only ONE gun and kept the other. It was sickening to see these kids playing with these guns -- they had NO IDEA that they were disabled! Very scary to think about!

On a final note, I heard the news reports after the school shooting, and the principal saying "Our prayers are with you all" (paraphrased) and that the children were sent around the corner to a church for counseling. Its very funny for me to see that God is only "allowed" in school AFTER a tragedy has happened.

AXO Alum- Asia2000 is not saying that SHE feels like that. She is saying that is how the media portrays it. When a kid gets shot in school the media only refers to it as a tragedy when it is in Suburbia. It's only BIG news when it's in Suburbia. When it happens in East Compton, it's in the third slot on the local 11 o'clock news.

Now that might be a harsh portrayal of the media, but unfortunately that's the way it is.

ZetaAce

This is a whole other issue. Not every one is Christian.

You are right. It is hypcritical to not allow prayer in schools at all but then rely upon it in times of tragedy.

If you want to open a thread about whether or not prayer should be allowed in public schools, it would be interesting to discuss.

Leslie

[This message has been edited by gphi2k (edited March 09, 2001).]

Sorry to be ignorant, but what is a "parochial" school? Please tell me, I honestly don't know. Thanks!

My whole point is that every one makes a big freaking deal about NO RELIGION in school (obviously separation of church and state)...yet AFTER a tragedy, everyone is saying "prayers" and going to church for counseling. I was just saying that its funny (ie, funny weird not funny haha) to me that it is apparently "OK" for them to have prayer AFTER the fact but not any other time. I was just making a general comment about how its a situational thing.

ZetaAce and Asia -- I am not saying any one person said this, that, or the other. My point was only to state that I would never consider a killing of this nature normal and it is a tragedy regardless of where it happens. I grieve a dead child no less if he/she is white, black, yellow, green, or blue. That's all I was trying to say.

The media -- **AXO Alum STILL shaking her head** and to think that we all actually "rely" on them to report the "news"! Ugghhh!

[This message has been edited by AXO Alum (edited March 09, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by AXO Alum (edited March 13, 2001).]

First of all, I'm sorry if what I said came out harsher than I meant it to. I am assuming it did because of the tone of your post. I apologize.

saying prayers and sending the students to Church for councelling is what made me say that not everyone is Christian. I am aware that other religions believe in God. I took your statement about chuch councelling and prayer as being in the same breath, but I am guessing now that you didn't mean it the way I interpreted it.

Anyhow, sorry if I offended you.

Leslie

[This message has been edited by gphi2k (edited March 12, 2001).]

Leslie - I'm sending you an email. Thanks!

Its a private school, religious based. ie: Catholic Schools. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

I think the way to get this stopped is doing several different things. First, they need to teach kids to step up and stop others from picking on other kids. THey need to be taught that it is important not only because it is right, but it might save their own lives, if they keep someone from feeling that no one cares.

Another thing is that mental health care and information has got to be more accessable in this country. If anyone wants to say they have never been depressed they are lying. It is a human condition that anyone with real emotions will have at one time or the other. But, people often ignore friends and family members who need it, because they are not informed as to how to help them, or they are embarrassed or don't want to get "involved". This is a societial problem and we all have to solve it, every day we live. We have to do it to protect ourselves and others we care about. Sorry that I got so "preachy" but I had to turn in a friend in high school who named five members of our senior class that she would kill if she could. She needed help. It took a long time before she forgave me for doing it, but I think I probably saved her from a lot worse situation than she could have had. And, mabe I saved someone's life.

I totally agree, pledgetrainer. The stigma surrounding mental health is so strong that people are afraid to admit they're having a hard time dealing with their emtions. Maybe this kind of thing wouldn't be so common if everyone had a 3rd party to vent to. Hearing un unbiased opinion from someone older can make so much difference. Even a trusted teacher or family friend can help prevent problems.
I think schools should have little workshops about mental health, stress, warning signs & dealing with conflict. We all learn how to keep our lungs working in health class, but how many kids learn about keeping mentally healthy? I don't think it'll fix the problem, but it couldn't really hurt.
Heidi